Sri Lanka Sunday: Spice

Did you know you have a little bit of Sri Lanka in your kitchen? Cinnamon trees are only native to the island of Sri Lanka and every cinnamon tree in the world is a descendant of one there! Go ahead, open up that spice canister and take a whiff. A few hundred years ago that spice was so rare it was considered and appropriate gift for royalty.

28 thoughts on “Sri Lanka Sunday: Spice”

Darrell, thanks for the facts from Sri Lanka and updates of your upcoming trip. I am praying for you as you use this to remind us that while sharing Christ is important, so is acting like Christ.

Recently at FundyLight (intended) Baptist, in answer to a comment about “preaching is our job”, that Christ once healed 10 lepers, and shared with the one who returned. The others were still healed. That we can just give a cup of water, and still be obedient.

I don’t know if this fits here, but thanks for starting SFL. It has been quite cathartic.

I just looked the book up. I wish I had known about it years ago. It’s the kind of book we would have bought. I guess I’ll have to buy it and save it for the grandkids we hope to have. My youngest is 18, and has moved up to more serious cookbooks.

I just read an article saying eating a lot of cinnamon may help prevent diabetes and reduce serum cholesterol levels.
So thank you, Sri Lankans, for giving us cinnamon.

By the way, the stuff on your spice rack may not be cinnamon from Sri Lanka. Much of what is sold in America as cinnmon is cassia, the bark of the Chinese cinnamon plant, Cinnamomum aromaticum. True cinnamon, also called Ceylon cinnamon (Ceylon being another name of Sri Lanka), is the bark of a related tree, Cinnamomum verum. C. verum is the one native to Sri Lanka (though it is grown in some other countries now), and is more expensive than cassia. There are other species, such as Saigon cinnamon (from Vietnam) and Indonesian cinnamon, that are seen less often here.

I’m so happy that you guys have the chance to do this. I love that the blogosphere makes it possible to call out flaws in the system (or systems that are flaws themselves, as the case may be…) and you do a good job of that, but I like that you’re also going to be able to build up a positive work with your influence.